GGRAsia – Casino investor Success Universe expects loss for 2015

Casino investor Success Universe expects loss for 2015

Feb 02, 2016 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck

Macau casino investor Success Universe Group Ltd said that it expects to record a consolidated loss after tax from continuing operations for the year ended December 31, 2015. That compares to a profit after tax of approximately HKD73.5 million (US$9.4 million) recorded in 2014, the firm said in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Monday.

Success Universe is a joint venture partner with a unit of SJM Holdings Ltd in casino hotel Ponte 16 (pictured), on the Macau peninsula. The firm also has a sports lottery sales agency network covering a few provinces in mainland China and in 2014 expanded into the China welfare lottery market to provide telephone sales services in Shanghai and Tianjin.

The Hong Kong-listed company posted a net loss of HKD1.9 million for the six months to June 30, compared to a profit of HKD47.7 million in the prior-year period.

Based on its unaudited consolidated management accounts for the 11 months to November 30, Success Universe said it has recorded “an unaudited consolidated loss after tax from continuing operations” compared to a profit in the prior-year period.

In Monday’s filing, the firm said the decline was mainly attributable to the substantial decrease of the shared profit of the associates relating to casino hotel Ponte 16. Success Universe additionally said the 2015 results are also expected to be impacted by a “decrease in operating revenue of the group’s lottery business”. The lottery segment has recorded a loss for the first 11 months of 2015, it added.

Data from China’s Ministry of Finance show that combined sales of mainland China’s two authorised lottery systems – the welfare lottery and the sports lottery – in the first 11 months of last year amounted to RMB333.8 billion (US$50.7 billion), a year-on-year decrease of 3.6 percent.

Success Universe said Monday’s announcement was not based on any information or figures that have been audited or reviewed by its auditors. The final results for full year 2015 are expected to be published in late March, it added.